Verse 4
4. The arrows of the Almighty The various calamities, such as sickness, pain, bereavements, and sorrows, (Deuteronomy 32:23; Psalms 38:2,) which the great Archer had sent. “The emphasis lies on Almighty the awful nature of his Adversary” this was enough to account for all his madness. Few are the hearts in which remain not such arrows deeply infixed, which He alone can extract
Who has Himself Been hurt by th’ archers; in his side
He bears, And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars!
Cowper.
The poison whereof. The ancients sometimes tipped their arrow-heads with the most deadly poison. If they but touched the blood they inflicted certain death. Ulysses is represented in Homer as making a voyage to a distant city, Ephyra,
Seeking some poisonous drug
Wherewith to taint his brazen arrows keen.
Odyssey, 1:2 60.
Man’s cruelty to man, in one age, invents poisoned arrows, in another, explosive bullets.
Drinketh up my spirit Rather, my spirit drinketh up. The original justifies this change, which modern commentators generally adopt. The effects of the divine arrows upon him are similar, to the poisoned arrows of men. Maddened by the virus, it is no wonder he raves.
Set themselves in array Used in a military sense, as in Judges 20:33 and 1 Samuel 4:2, where the same Hebrew word is used.
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